Cayman Finance New York briefing reaffirms Cayman as industry leader

Over 150 attendees from both New York and the Cayman Islands recently gathered at the 4th annual Cayman Finance New York Breakfast Briefing held at the Harvard Club of New York City at which Cayman Finance CEO Mr Jude Scott described Cayman as “the premier global financial hub”.

In his presentation, Mr Scott explained to the audience what gave Cayman’s financial services industry a sustainable competitive advantage in comparison to other international financial centres, describing the quality and experience of Cayman’s professional service providers, the jurisdiction’s appropriate legislative and regulatory balance, the commitment of the Cayman Islands Government and the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority to the Financial Services industry, and innovation in products and services to meet the needs of global clients.

Mr Scott also advised how the Cayman Islands offshore financial services industry is a strong extender of value for developed and developing economies around the world, a point often misunderstood by critics of this jurisdiction.

“The Cayman Islands is the premier global financial hub, efficiently connecting law abiding users and providers of investment capital and financing around the world – benefiting developed and developing countries,” Mr Scott said. “Our success is predicated on our jurisdiction and our world class service providers providing a neutral efficient platform for investment capital and financing around the world. We enable parties who are domiciled in countries who may have differing laws, regulations, tax rules and customs to benefit from doing business with each other, using Cayman as an efficient and effective global financial hub.”

Referring to a broadening of Cayman’s financial services offering, Mr Scott advised the New York business partners that the jurisdiction is, for the first time this year, formally recognising reinsurance as a specific industry sector.

“We look forward to seeing the reinsurance sector continue to develop and grow,” he said.

Mr Scott outlined how the Fintech industry fits synergistically with Cayman’s overall business model and how Cayman has an optimal infrastructure ecosystem to support world class financial services that well positions the jurisdiction to further attract family offices, reinsurance providers, investment managers, fund administrators and others to set up a physical presence.

Mr Scott also spoke about the G20 Plus, explaining that this referred to a group that included the G20 countries plus the Cayman Islands and a handful of other top International Financial Centres. He explained that G20 Plus countries are critical to the global economy being extenders of value to G20 countries around the wold. They also adhere to the same high quality global standards for transparency and cross border cooperation as G20 countries.

In his address, the Hon Wayne Panton, Cayman Islands Minister for Financial Services, Commerce and Environment, provided a Government update to the attendees that focused on Cayman’s proactivity, as financial services in the global context continues to rapidly evolve.

He gave further details regarding Government’s steps to build the insurance / reinsurance initiative’s legislative and regulatory framework; recent commercial enhancements such as the Limited Liabilities Companies Law, which has been quite successful since its July 2016 launch; and new legislation such as the Foundations Companies Bill.

“More than ever, it’s necessary to ensure that each partner in Cayman’s financial services regime – Government, our regulator and industry – understands the important role we each have in ensuring that Cayman’s products and services are both commercially strong and in line with global standards”, Minister Panton said. “Cayman’s industry works for jurisdictions including the US because of the effective, efficient collaboration among these partners”.

Ms Heather Smith, Head of the Investments and Securities Division at the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, also took part in the briefing providing a regulatory update.

“As the regulator, we at CIMA stand committed to continually enhancing the reputation of the Cayman Islands as an International Financial Centre. This is done using appropriate, effective and efficient supervision of financial services; offering flexible and robust regulation, in accordance with relevant international standards; maintaining a stable currency; and providing assistance to overseas regulatory authorities,” Ms Smith said.

“While doing so, CIMA also considers global competitiveness and innovation that is required for the Cayman Islands to maintain its leading position.”

To close the event a special presentation on Fintech was made by Mr Carlos Arena, Director for Business Development for R3.

The New York briefing event was part of a successful week-long schedule of meetings by Cayman Finance and the Ministry of Financial Services with leading New York firms, institutions, and global media correspondents, including The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and Bloomberg radio.

Photo Caption 1: Jude Scott, Cayman Finance CEO speaking at the 4th annual Cayman Finance New York Breakfast Briefing at the Harvard Club of New York City